At the end of Shauny Boy’s long-awaited mockumentary ‘The Tartan Messiah’, the question is ‘What now?’.
Wings Over Scotland | The Tartan Messiah
Alex Salmond will be gathering with other prominent pro-independence names in Glasgow this coming Saturday.
Wings Over Scotland | After the swarm
We raised a poll on Twitter yesterday and it will be open until lunchtime on Saturday.
At the '10 Years On' gig on Saturday, would you like to hear Alex Salmond address directly the issue of the franchise?
144 votes·1 day left
We don’t expect that Alex Salmond will be bounced into addressing anything specific by anyone. There is a lot we would like him to explain about matters which he cannot go anywhere near for very obvious reasons but while those wheels of justice continue to grind exceedingly fine there is other business which can and should be attended to.
We chose to raise the franchise question because it is, in our opinion, a sore which has remained festering since the publication of Scotland’s Future in November 2013.
Scotland's Future - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)
Alex Salmond (in a post-referendum interview which we cannot find) explained that defining the franchise parameters was one of the most difficult tasks he faced. No doubt he had to tackle similarly weighty problems but that is the one we would like to hear more about.
Even if not addressed directly by Alex, or any of the other speakers, we know for sure that it will be a talking point amongst attendees and it is not going away. We don’t know how the event will pan out - a time for reminiscence, honest reappraisal, regret? All of these things and more, for sure, but we hope that it will produce at least some indication that the independence movement is capable of producing something positive from the past decade of pain.
If we have learned nothing else it is that ‘positive campaigns’ don’t always win. In a fairly refereed contest, aye, perhaps. But the Anglo-state does not play by the rules. Anyone’s rules. For them, might is right and the status quo must be preserved at all costs.
We don’t speak for everyone in the independence movement and have never claimed to do so but we have been around genuine activists and serious thinkers long enough to know that frustration has long-since passed endurable levels. That’s why so many have either given up or gone off-grid entirely, scunnered with the apparent inability of ‘the only vehicle to independence’ to maintain even a semblance of resistance to Westminster diktat.
If there is any remaining hope of Scottish independence being secured via a peaceful ‘democratic’ route then the precise calibration of the franchise must be addressed. Exactly how it can or should be modified is a matter for debate but it is crucial that the debate happen soon. Those who exploited loopholes and maladministration (or blatantly lied) in order to cast a vote on Scotland’s future when they knew fine well that they had no moral right to do so must be put on notice that they won’t get away with it again.
It is not reasonable to expect Saturday’s gathering to produce clear ‘policy’ on any matter. This is not a party political event. But on Saturday evening, as attendees mull over what they’ve heard and share their analysis with the rest of us via social media, we will discover whether or not the grassroots are energised, hopeful. That can only happen if they are given some indication that ‘the gloves are coming off’. It doesn’t matter if Alex Salmond or any of the other speakers use that expression or not. What matters is that we discern some indication that we are no longer expected just to keep a dream alive.
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